Andoni Iraola says he will encourage Alexander Isak and his Liverpool teammates to make more of a fuss when they are fouled, believing it may be the only way to earn decisions from officials.
One of the biggest talking points from Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal was the failure of the referee and VAR to penalise Jurrien Timber for pulling Isak’s shirt, preventing the striker from attacking the ball.
Iraola refused to blame the defeat on the decision but admitted the incident highlighted the need for players to make their appeals more noticeable.
“The ball just goes one centimetre in front of Alex,” he told Sky Sports. “Alex is going to hit the ball in front of the goal.
“So because he doesn’t go to the floor, you are not going to call the penalty? I don’t understand it.”
On whether Isak needed to go down, he added sternly: “That’s the problem we have with the game, that because he doesn’t dive and go to the floor [he doesn’t get the decision].
“The fact that you are even asking me that he should have gone to the floor, that’s the thing. If he goes to the floor, they call the penalty for me. They call the penalty 100 percent.
“Should it be like this? No. But it is what it is.
“And next time, now the manager should tell Alex, ‘next time you arrive to the goal, you have to go to the floor, otherwise they don’t call it’.”
During his post-match press conference, Andoni Iraola was asked whether the incident meant his players needed to be ‘smarter’ in such situations.
“It’s a shame you ask me this question, but honestly, yes,” he replied.
“We have to tell them to go down because they are not going to call it otherwise, and then referees complain why they don’t go down because if you don’t go down, then you don’t call it.”
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